Brutal soils brought into check

One of England’s finestcountry estates has some ofthe country’s toughest soils.

CPM visits to find how achange in cultivation policy

is taming them.

By Tom Allen-Stevens

O N FA R M O P I N I O N

The Claydon buys us time on our

difficult ground.”“

Compton Manor Estate at King’sSomborne in Hants is the sort of placeyou’d dream about –– 970ha of rollingHants countryside, there’s 530ha ofarable, set in generous fields among wellmanaged mature woodland. Passingthrough is one of the best stretches ofthe River Test for trout fishing, and this,along with the woodland, has earned it a reputation as one of the top sportingestates in the country –– truly a jewel set in a scepter’d isle.

But just try and work its soils. “Evil” ishow drill operator Peter Jarvis describesthem. Although it neighbours easy-goingchalk downland, Compton itself sits onbrutal, heavy clay, laced with unforgivingflints. When Andrew Day took over asestate manager three years ago, it was atthe start of a radical change in the waythese soils were kept in check.

Deep cultivations culture“Previously, there’d been a culture of deep cultivations,” explains Andrew Day.“Ploughs and heavy tines made multiplepasses to beat the soils into shape. Theestate had more tractors than it neededand no earthworms at all, while the wearingmetal and fuel bills were spiralling out ofcontrol and proportion. This may havebeen sustainable in a good year, but itwasn’t one to rely on as costs rose.”

The quest had been underway to find a new cultivation system. “A number ofdemo machines had been tried and

frequently went back broken. We’ve anumber of small fields with tight corners,which made the previous drill –– a trailedHorsch Sprinter –– difficult to manoeuvre.A drill with too many press wheels isn’tsuitable because the flints just tear them to shreds.”

In the end, the decision was taken tobuy a 4m Claydon Hybrid drill, whicharrived shortly after Andrew Day startedon the estate in March 2011. “The Claydonsows the crop in bands, so you only move s

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A high flint content make the heavy clays on theCompton Estate a challenging prospect.

.Andrew Day, holding one of the more “girlie”flints, says there was a need to move to a moresustainable cultivation system.

as much soil as you need. The first cropwe tried was spring barley, and there’salways an issue over ensuring the crophas enough moisture. But it establishedwell –– because you’re not moving somuch soil, it doesn’t dry out and the plantsfind their own moisture. The crop ofPropino yielded 7t/ha, which for us is pretty good.”

That autumn was the drill’s first full season. “It did a remarkable job, and allthe crops looked fantastic. One thing wenoticed straight off was the time saving ––previously drilling had typically carried oninto Nov or even Dec, but the Claydonbuys us time on our difficult ground.”

The wet conditions in June and July2012 scuppered hopes of high yields,however, and proved a challenge for getting the crop established that autumn.“We struggled, but then everyone did. Wedid wonder whether we should bring in theplough, but we stood by the system andgot everything drilled up. Like many othersin the UK, some of our 2012 winter oilseedrape and wheat failed, and I think if thathad been the first year we’d operated thenew system, we would’ve questionedwhether we’d made the right move, but bythen we’d had exposure to the benefits.”

The Claydon system is a relatively simple one. Leading tines, set at 300mmcentres, create a deep-drainage tractdown to 150mm depth. These lift justenough soil for the following A-share tines, which place the seed in a 150mm-wideband. A choice of batter boards, harrows orpress wheels (or an optional combination oftwo of these) cover the seeds at the back.The Hybrid is a fixed-frame, mounted drill,available in 3-6m widths, with all sizes above4m folding for transport to 2.85m.

“The main advantage for us is the

speed and efficiency of the system,” continues Andrew Day. “We start sowing alittle earlier, which suits direct-drilling ––that was 15 Sept for cereals last year ––but we also finish a lot earlier. The maindifference is the work rate –– we can comfortably drill 32-40ha in a day. Givenour steep banks, stones and some fiddlyfields that’s a decent rate, and far morethan we could achieve with the plough. Last autumn, the final field was drilled on 10 Oct –– the day before the weather turned.”

And the rain didn’t stop, he recalls.“Between 14 Dec 2013 and 19 Feb 2014we had 655mm, while the UK average was486mm –– I reckon we were about thewettest spot in the UK for that period. Butlooking at our soils you wouldn’t believewe’ve had that much. Back in the old daysof ploughing you’d expect to see rills andgulleys, but the fields have held the waterwell without ponding, and I’m convincedthat’s down to the Claydon system.”

While the soil’s been worked less, it’sneeded less work, he notes. “There’s notas much compaction –– we hung on to aCousins subsoiler which was used regularlywhen we ploughed, but we’ve not neededit at all. Take a spade out and dig a holeand you find earthworms –– you rarely finda compacted spot.”

Other equipment has been sold –– thefleet of four tractors has been reduced totwo, with a Massey Ferguson 6499 putting245hp in front of the drill. “It’s a brillianttractor for our slopes and fields, but itknows the drill is behind it. It’s also relatively light and we’ve had some issueswith lifting the heavy drill. But this wassoon resolved with a 1.5t weight we purchased to go on the front.”

Cultivation clutterThe 7f Gregoire Besson plough has longsince departed, along with several otheritems of cultivation clutter that are no longer needed. “There are just a fewpieces of tillage equipment we now use:we purchased a 7.5m Claydon Rake at thesame time as the drill. This goes in straightafter the combine and does a really goodjob of raking the straw –– we can whizzthrough a 40ha field in just four hours.

“However, I think we put too much faithin the extent to which it would prepare theseedbed ahead of the drill. We’ve nowinvested in a 5.6m Great Plains Xpress.The discs are angled quite sharp so itshallow mixes the soil, going no more than 50mm deep. We don’t use it everywhere –– just if time allows and anenhanced chit is required. It does a goodjob where you need a bit of tilth in the topsoil. I’d hope this is transitional, andover time as the soil improves further, we won’t need the Xpress.”

The new system has also brought thecombine into focus. “We chop all ourstraw, but when direct drilling, the qualityand spread of the chop becomes part of the purchasing decision of a new combine. So when we traded ours out, welooked at various models, and only Claasand MF combines did the job.

“We settled for an MF Delta 9280, with a9.1m header. On paper, the combine hasa higher capacity than we need, but we’veopted for over-capacity to ensure we canmanage if faced with smaller weather windows. We could have gone for a 10.7mcut, but this would be too wide for thestraw to spread well enough.”

Following the drill is a 9m set of CousinsCambridge rolls, with a sizeable 78cmdiameter. “It’s the most useful tool there isfor direct drilling on hard, stony ground,”

The tyres are foam-filled, while a set of leadingtines will only cover 600ha.

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claims Andrew Day. “You need a heavy set of rolls to whack the stones in and seal the seedbed. However, we did findthey were just too heavy in 2012, so wealso have a 12m set of 53cm diameterrolls, for when the ground’s just a little too sticky.”

So what about slugs? “We had a realproblem in 2012. I think they took the seed out before they actually came to thesurface. So we now have a slug-pelletapplicator mounted on the drill, whichhelps incorporate the pellets into theseedbed before the rolls come through.”

No more grassweedsWeeds are no more of a challenge thanthey were with the previous conventionalmethods, he notes.“Because we’re onlyworking the top 5-10cm, there’s less charlock and no more grassweeds.”There’s one field with part-resistant

Cereals 2014 will see the launch of Claydon’snew Hybrid T drill – a trailed version of the company’s existing linkage-mounted Hybridseed/fertiliser unit.

The drill meets the needs of larger,1000ha-plus farms in the UK and Europe,according to sales director Spencer Claydon.“Existing and potential customers have beenasking us for a trailed version of our existinglinkage-mounted model. What’s more, over thepast two years, we’ve seen a big increase ininterest in fertiliser placement while drilling.The Hybrid T meets these requirements.”

Available initially in a 6m form, this has 19seeding tines and should cover 4ha/hr with a300-350hp tractor. There are plans for a 25-tine, 8m version, says Spencer Claydon,which should manage 5ha/hr and will need anextra 100hp of grunt at the front. Hydraulicallyfolding outer sections bring the travelling widthof both units down to less than 3m and an overall length of 8.75m.

Both versions incorporate a 5500-litre hopper–– equivalent to about 4t of seed and fertiliser –– with a 60:40 split between the two. In 6mform, the weight of the drilling chassis is carried

Claydon launches trailed drill

The Claydon Hybrid T meets the needs of larger,1000ha-plus farms in the UK and Europe.

on five centrally mounted depth wheels, fittedwith 10.0/75-15.3 cleated tyres. The seed hopper is carried separately on four transportwheels which run on 380/55–17 cleated tyres.

blackgrass, but he admits the weed hasn’t been as much of an issue as othergrowers have faced.

“The wide rows of the Claydon take abit of getting used to. They show up anydrilling imperfections, but the crop tillersand branches out more to compensate. By the time it grows in the spring, youdon’t notice the wide rows and it doesresult in a good crop.”

The drill itself has received some modifications. The width has been extended to 4.8m, and batter boards havebeen added to the harrows at the back.“We added the Claydon double toolbar inJan 2013. In the early days and in wetterconditions, the leading tine tended toleave a bit of an open channel as a resultof our poor soils. But we didn’t see that atall in autumn 2013, which may be down tothe better structure we’ve now achieved.

“We also added a micro-fert kit in

time for autumn 2013, so we could put Primary-P in with the OSR. Half of the crop had this treatment, while the rest hadthe usual diammonium phosphate (DAP)applied shortly after drilling. To be honest, all the OSR came through well,and it’s hard to tell the difference.”

The drill is strong and sturdy, notesAndrew Day, but even this was no matchfor the fearsome flinty clays. “The centralframe broke in the first year. Claydon werevery good, and replaced it straight away,but to be fair, I think it’s our ground that’sthe problem. Once the frame had beenreplaced, we reinforced it and it’s heldtogether since.”

Predictably, the tyres have failed. “Wehad ten punctures in one day, so replacedthem with foam-filled tyres. A set of lead-ing tines will only cover 600ha for us, whileI believe they’ll usually be good for twicethat on other farms. However, we keepthem quite deep –– they’re set to 150mmfor the OSR and we now leave them there for cereals. You don’t have to, but it eliminates the need to subsoil.

“The A-shares just kiss the surface, butwe still found they wore heavily in the firstyear, and had to replace them after only60ha. Now they’ll do about half the farm –– again, I think that’s a sign the soils are easing. We also changed the C tinesto some with double thickness to add further robustness.”

But Andrew Day finds he values therigidity of the fixed frame, and doesn’tyearn for independently mounted drillcoulters. “Generally drilling depth isn’t a

The Claydon Hybrid drill has been fitted with amicro-fert kit for applying Primary-P to the OSRand a slug pellet applicator.

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The estate’s Massey Ferguson 6499 puts 245hp in front of the drill, which is just enough to manage theslopes, while it now has a 1.5t weight in front to balance the heavy drill.

problem. We’ve the odd field that vergesinto the chalk, and getting the right depthin the softer soil can be an issue, as we’reset up for clay.”

For Peter Jarvis, the main advantagehas been having more time to do other

things at a busy time of year. “Also, it usedto be awkward getting the Sprinter intocorners, but the Claydon’s much easier tohandle. There isn’t a line of press wheelsto get bunged up, either.”

Lumps crumbleThe drill pushes the MF 6499 “to its limits” on the slopes, he says, but he comfortably manages a forward speed of12km/h on the flat. “You can tell the drill’sdoing some good for the soils –– before,you’d get hold of a lump and could barelybreak it open, now it just crumbles. Yousee far more worm casts, too.

“The calibration’s very easy and themicro-fert and slug-pellet applicators justseem to look after themselves –– they’revery low maintenance. You get a goodservice from Claydon, too –– we’ve neverhad to wait long for parts.”

It’s been something of a task to set upthe A-shares, he admits. “We started offwith 18cm-wide shares, but moved downto 13cm thinking we were probably moving too much soil. But they then didn’tgive enough soil coverage, especially atthe rear and when it’s a little sticky. Wetried various adjustments to the drill, but eventually went back to the wider shares.It means more fuel and wearing parts, butyou do a better job.”

The one slight gripe he has is the tramlining kit. “It wobbles around a little –– it could really do with a tie-bar. But otherwise it’s a good drill –– I’d go for oneagain for its ease of use and service.”

Compton Manor Estate, King’s Somborne, Hantsl Farm size: 970ha of which 520ha is arablel Soils: heavy clay with flintsl Staff: two full-time on arable plus an

experienced harvest operatorl Cropping: winter wheat (KWS Santiago,

KWS Kielder, KWS Gator, Invicta), winter oilseed rape (DK Cabernet, DK Camelot),spring barley (Propino), spring beans (Fuego)

l Tractors: 245hp Massey Ferguson 6499,210hp MF 6495, JCB Fastrac 2170 (for spraying)

l Drill: 4.8m Claydon Hybrid with double toolbar, Stocks Rotor-Meter granularapplicator and Stocks Fan Jet slug-pellet applicator

l Cultivation equipment: 7.5m Claydon Rake, 5.6m Great Plains Xpress, 9m Cousins Cambridge rolls (78cm diameter),12m Cousins Cambridge rolls (53cm diameter)

l Sprayer: Knight 3000 litre with 24m booml Spreader: KRM M2W 3000 litrel Loader: Merlo P40.7

Farm facts

Peter Jarvis notes the drill is doing some good forthe soils.

The plan is to move to variable-rateseeding in the near future, reveals AndrewDay. “The farm’s been mapped bySoilQuest and the drill is set up for it. But we’re already getting considerablebenefits from the new system.”

Wheat yields have increased from 9t/hato 11t/ha, spring barley has risen from6.5t/ha to 7t/ha and, once there’s a ‘normal’ year for OSR, he expects to raisethose yields from the farm’s 3.5t/ha average. “We also take pride in what theestate looks like –– the Claydon doesn’tbring you the purest, perfect seedbed, but you can’t do that here. What it does isto buy us time and bring us speed to helpus achieve a good, profitable crop and an improving soil structure across very difficult soils.” n

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Care was taken when trading out the combine to ensure straw was chopped well and evenlyacross the full width of the cut.

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